Nick Kyrgios escapes Australian bubble to focus on US Open

Chris Dutton

Canberra tennis star Nick Kyrgios will be relieved to escape the popularity bubble of Australia to focus on his US Open campaign, and says he no longer feels the pressure to prove himself on the international stage.

The teenager who shot to fame following a superb Wimbledon campaign, which included beating then-world No.1 Rafael Nadal, insists he won't be burdened by pressure to continue his remarkable rise when he resumes his career next week.

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"I was under the pump and stressing out a bit. But hopefully that dies down next time I'm back.

"It's been pretty full on. I wouldn't say I've had any time to relax, it's been more intense than overseas.

"One positive side of going overseas is getting away from that, you play tournaments but outside of training and playing everything is different."

Kyrgios was a world away from the hype on Tuesday training at the AIS, practising his between the legs shot which shocked Nadal and cleaning up after a session with coach todd Larkham.

Kyrgios spent two weeks in Melbourne working on his fitness to prepare his body for an intense playing block which includes tournaments in Toronto, Cincinnati, the US Open in New York and playing for Australia in Davis Cup in Perth.

The 19-year-old was ranked outside the world's top 800 just 18 months ago, but now shoulders the expectation of a nation as Australia's next big thing in tennis.

He has usurped Bernard Tomic as Australia's greatest hope of winning its first grand slam since 2001.

But Kyrgios is unfazed by the pressure, declaring he feels more relaxed knowing he has already shown the world that he can beat top-10 players.

"If I keep playing the way I am, I'm not going to put a ceiling on what I can do," Kyrgios said.

"I put a fair bit of pressure on myself, but the way I look at it now is that there's not as much pressure as there was a year ago.

"I've broken through and I'm still young, but there's a bit more expectation now about how you're going to go at tournaments. Pressure has worn off, I feel more relaxed on the court. I feel freer, I've got a bit more confidence. I've still got a massive way to go."

Kyrgios set himself a goal at the start of the year to break into the top 100 players in the world.

He smashed that target when he made the quarter-finals at Wimbledon. But for the first time since turning professional, Kyrgios isn't driven by a rankings number.

"I'm not going to focus on a number to get to any more, I'm just excited to have a good schedule. In tennis there are no guarantees you're going to be here for a long time, so I have to keep working hard," he said.

Kyrgios has also switched coaches in his brief trip back to Australia, leaving the Simon Rea stable to join Canberra's Todd Larkham and Australian Davis Cup coach Josh Eagle in a tag-team role.

"I'm confident he will consistently play top 30 tennis and I think he'll keep winning matches,'' Larkham said. "For the first time in a while, there's no limit. There's no reason that he couldn't be top 20 or top 10 at the end of the year.

"It's expectation in your head, in tennis if you don't play well you could easily lose to a guy outside the top 100 in the world. That's part of learning and being on the way up."